The Nature of Accidents
by CGandJaz
Summary: Everyone has to pay for their mistakes eventually.
1. Micheal's Confessions

The Nature of Accidents

Disclaimer: I do not own General Hospital or its characters.

**A/N: In this story Michael is eighteen and he never ran to Mexico with Kristina. He was the one that ran Claudia off the road, but he never was punished for it. Everything else will be explained through the story.**

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Chapter 1: Micheal's Confessions

'It was an accident' those words whirled around in his head.

He would have given his own life before inflicting an ounce of pain on her, but he had. There was no one to blame but himself.

She was trying to save him, but he didn't want to be saved, didn't think he needed to be.

She had followed him knowing he was doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous.

He would give anything to hear her voice again, to look in her deep brown eyes. But she was dead, killed by a bullet.

The worst part of the whole scenario wasn't that he shot her, it was the fact that he fled the scene after it happened. He didn't even check to see if the victim was still breathing. He just ran like a scared little boy, unlike the man he claimed to be.

His only defense was that he didn't know it was her, as if that's a real excuse. He thought the gun was on safety, his finger slipped and the gun went off. IT was an accident.

He remembered when Johnny came to see him. He had been avoiding everyone like the plague for the last two days. And somehow he should have known something was wrong when she didn't call him. But he was too busy trying to deal with what he had done.

Johnny looked like he had been crying with his red eyes. Something was wrong. He told him he needed to sit down, but he preferred to stand. Whatever he had to say he had a hard time saying it. He started and stopped a couple of times, but he spoke her name. And suddenly he felt his chest tighten up and the idea of sitting down sounded like a very good idea. Johnny rambled on about something, but all he heard was that she was dead.

He sat there still, but he didn't make the connection yet. But when Johnny went on and elaborated on where they located her body, he found it hard to breathe.

Days went by and he hardly left his room. His mother was worried about him. She literally had to force him to eat something and take a shower. They all could see how depressed he had become. They tried to get him to talk to some professional, but he refused. He had killed the one person he knew would love him no matter what. Nothing that anyone said could make him feel better.

Claudia came to visit him, probably at the request of his mother. She didn't say much, but he did notice the darkness in her eyes and the bags underneath them. She hadn't been sleeping, something they had in common. When she did choose to speak, she talked about vengeance. He cringed, but he didn't say anything. The woman in front of him loved only three people in her life. He somehow had managed to take away two of those people from her. He was a dead man walking and he knew it.

The first accident, he knew he had no business driving in his condition. He was damaged goods, not able to keep his emotions under check. His parents gave him a car and a license that he didn't deserve or earn. They felt guilty about him loosing a year of his life, so they tried to make it up to him. He rather stupidly swerved in her lane and caused the death of his step brother.

Claudia had found away to let it go. He knew it was the hardest thing she ever had to do, but she did it for her. Now, he had taken her away as well. It was only a matter of time before his secrets came to light and he would have to look Claudia in the eye. No one could get him out of this mess, at least not this time around.


	2. Heartless

Disclaimer: Don't own General Hospital or it's characters

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Chapter 2: Heartless

Claudia Antonia Zacharra already knew how this situation was going to unfold, even Johnny seemed to be on board. But it became complicated when the three people in the room found out who was responsible.

The girls father had been pacing in front of her trying to wrap his head around the whole situation. "THAT. BOY. HE. KILLED. HER."

She just stared blankly at him. Claudia had every intention to make the one who killed her severely pay. A bullet in the head would be the least of the their worries. But her need for vengeance was being clouded by a promise that she made to the deceased girl herself.

"What are you going to do about it?" Johnny asked Claudia directly.

"He killed my daughter so its only fitting that I have the pleasure of ending his life." The other man in the room pulled out his gun and moved toward the door, before she could respond.

"Dino, wait" she called out. "I want to hear what he has to say." What she really wanted was for it to be anybody else, not the boy that loved her

"Why? We all saw the proof. He's guilty and in less than one hour he'll be dead."

She couldn't be so black and white on this issue. Claudia had made a promise that no harm would come to him. She could allow Dino to take care of the situation, but she wasn't sure she could live with it. "Not yet." she stood up from her chair and took the gun out of his hand. "I want that boy to look me in the eye and tell me why."

"What he has to say doesn't matter anymore. He doesn't matter Claudia." he stared at her for a minute contemplating something. "There's nothing that he can say that will make me not want to kill him."

"It looked like an accident." Johnny added moving toward the grieving father. "He's just a kid."

"It doesn't matter, accident or not. He took the life of my daughter and he is going to die. I raised her. I was there when she was scared of the thing in her closest. I was there when I had to explain why she didn't have a mommy like all the other kids.." he looked squarely at Claudia with pain in his eyes. "I was there when she got her heart broken for the first time and when she was in the hospital for a week when she totaled her car. I was there period. You two don't have a right to tell me how the hell to handle this situation. I'm going to make sure that arrogant SOB ends up six feet under. Now hand me my damn gun." he reached for his gun, but Claudia didn't relinquish it.

He was right; she had no right to tell him how to handle his grief, or the person that ended their daughters life. She had given up that right a long time ago.

"Claudia" he hissed. "Give me my gun."

"Bring him here first before you do anything, please." She gave him the gun.

He stared at her noticing the same deep brown eyes his daughter had. He could never say no to those eyes, he hated her for it. "John, you're coming with me." he ordered

Johnny looked at him confused.

"You're going to make sure I don't kill him. You think you can handle that. "

Johnny nodded. He glanced at Claudia then followed Dino out the door.


	3. Mother to Son

Disclaimer: I don't own General Hospital or its characters.

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The Nature of Accidents

Chapter 3: Mother to Son

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Carly Jacks wasn't a stupid woman. She had known that her son was hiding something, but she couldn't have ever imagined that it was this bad.

Twenty minutes ago Johnny and Dino had nearly pounded the door off the hinges. When she opened it, Dino passed by her rushing to her son's room, nearly breaking the door down when he wouldn't open it. Johnny was trying to explain the situation, but she had been too focused on the actions of Dino. He drug her son out by his shirt, headed for her front door.

She was yelling at Dino to stop and finally implanted herself in front of his pathway when he didn't respond. He tried to move around her, but she wasn't going to let him go that easy. She was glaring at him.

He let go of her son and he fell to the living room floor. Carly immediately squatted down taking a better look at her son and making sure he was okay.

"Tell her" Dino yelled with pure hatred seething through his eyes. "Tell your mother why. Go ahead"

Carly was flabbergasted at the way Dino was looking at her son. He had never been exactly enthusiastic about her son's relationship with his daughter, but now he was treating him like the disgusting thing at the bottom of his shoe.

"I killed her." he muttered head bowed, barely above a whisper.

"What?" she asked, lifting his head so their eyes were locked.

Tears started to fall. "I killed her." he repeated a little louder.

Carly was confused. She was going to ask who he was talking about, and then everything made sense. He had killed her. She gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. Her head was shaking no, "Please tell me you didn't" She stood up and looked down at him before looking at Dino. His eyes told the truth.

A million different words flooded her mind. She wanted to console her son, but how could she when he had done something that could not be so easily forgiven. She needed air, she needed this all to be a nightmare.

The shock was starting to wear off, and the anger was starting to surface. "You left her to die." she found herself screaming, not meaning it to come out so loudly or harsh. "You just left her there to bleed to death?"

His head lowered down to the ground not able to look at his own mother. She could see the tears fall down his face.

"What the hell were you thinking?" she found herself saying. "Why didn't you call an ambulance, at least?"

He didn't make any acknowledgment that he heard her.

"Look at me." she screamed making his eyes face hers. "What the hell were you doing with a gun in the first place?"

He didn't say anything; he looked physically ill and emotionally drained. She could tell that the guilt was eating him up inside.

"Michael." she tried to calm herself down. "After everything that happened with Morgan, how could you do this to me." She knew she sounded selfish, but she had lost Morgan to an accidental shooting. She didn't know what else to say. She just stood there looking at her son. He had finally done something that she couldn't fix.

Johnny walked toward her muttering something about Claudia wanting to see her. The Zacharra's and the Corinthos had gotten to an understanding mostly due to the relationship between Claudia's daughter and her son. Now that understanding was being severely threatened.

She grabbed her purse and keys, helped her son off the floor and headed toward the front door. Dino and Johnny trailed silently behind them.


End file.
